Top 10: Martin Scorsese Pictures
With a career spanning over 50 years, Martin Scorsese has continually proven that he’s one of the best and most exciting filmmakers working today. Part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, he’s widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers in cinematic history, and with just a glance at his impressive filmography, there’s little wonder why many share that sentiment. Though he’s often remembered for his iconic work within the crime genre, his capacity as a filmmaker is much more than that.
With the release of The Irishman, we’re honoring Scorsese by taking a brief look at what we consider to be his 10 strongest films. Be sure to let us know your favorite Scorsese film in the comments section below!
10: The King Of Comedy (1982)
Scorsese’s satirical black comedy was a box office bomb despite being critically well received — something De Niro claimed was "because it gave off an aura of something that people didn't want to look at or know". Admittedly, it is a creepy film that is tough to watch, but it is no doubt a great one that stands out amongst the rest of Scorsese’s body of work due to its focus on celebrity worship and American media culture. Somewhat of an extension of Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy cuts close to the bone and features De Niro in yet another memorable performance in Scorsese picture as a strangely sympathetic psychopath.
9: After Hours (1985)
After Hours is an unrated gem that is often overlooked within Scorsese’s filmography, which we think deserves a place amongst his very very best. The epitome of a disaster film, After Hours is a wild and kooky 24-hour odyssey full of continuous hilarity and misadventure. Scorsese’s masterful craft churns the whole experience into a hilariously riveting, wonderfully odd, and surprisingly stressful stroll through the New York streets as Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) experiences one mishap after the next. Full of frantic energy and loaded with black humor, Scorsese makes Paul’s journey into a hilarious work of art that can be viscerally felt.
8: The Irishman (2019)
Martin Scorsese’s latest mob epic, The Irishman, reunites him with usual suspects Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and also marks his first collaboration with Al Pacino. Despite standing at a whopping three and a half hours, the film is a brisk, breezy, and entertaining thrill ride that reaches deeper than any of Scorsese’s previous crime films, arriving at a surprisingly profound and contemplative conclusion that lingers with a quiet sizzle. The film really feels like a culmination of everything in Scorsese’s career and how he’s refined himself in his Autumn years, blending his energetic and stylistic crime films with his more contemplative work, giving it the feel of Casino/Goodfellas meets Silence.
7: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese’s fifth collaboration with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is a wildly entertaining romp about corruption and fraud. Working from a script written by Terence Winter (who Scorsese also worked with on Boardwalk Empire), the film was controversial for its morally ambiguous depiction of events, explicit sexual content, extreme profanity, depiction of hard drug use, and its use of animals during production, but we think it’s a hedonistic delight. Fast paced and consistently hilarious, The Wolf of Wall Street features quality performances from DiCaprio, Hill, and Robbie, as well as sleek direction and a few gut-scenes to add into the Scorsese hall of fame.
6: Killers Of The Flower Moon (2023)
Killers Of The Flower Moon is a fascinating amalgam of genres. It stands at an interesting intersection where the greasy greed of the gangster picture meets the dusty dirty road of the western, and their blood-lust romance bleed over into police procedural and courtroom drama territory. It is a film full of complex characters that seeks to tell a complicated and compelling story of Indigenous injustice with a compassionate and respectful lens, portraying the Osage people as just that: people, not a stereotype. The ingenious thing that Scorsese and Eric Roth do here is hold a mirror up directly to the audience, forcing them to reflect on the film’s events and their own actions (or inactions), urging us to talk about injustice, to remember, to be better, and it sails out on a beautiful symbolic image that ties things up in a lovely aerial bow.
5: Casino (1995)
Aside from getting off to a rough start (the car explosion and credits are pretty awful), Scorsese crafts a wholly immersive and compelling experience loaded with some of his best and most flashy style and stained with his most brutal violence post-Taxi Driver. De Niro, Pesci, and Stone deliver phenomenal performances that electrify, dizzy, and dazzle just like the lights of Sin City. Epic in scope and enthusiastically long-winded, Scorsese weaves a tale all about trust and the consequences of a gamble — and boy can some of them be felt (Joe Pesci being buried alive will haunt us forever).
4: The Departed (2006)
The Departed is an emotionally resonate rat-on-rat thriller that is full of suspense, tension, and twists. It’s also a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, which Scorsese attuned to American culture. A sweeping gangster epic full of gritty authenticity and murky morality, The Departed marked the first time Scorsese won an Oscar (after six previous losses) and appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006. With a dynamite cast, tight direction, and fantastic editing from Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed is yet another outstanding piece of work within Scorsese’s menagerie of hits.
3: Raging Bull (1980)
Jake Lamotta is scum, but Scorsese has our full attention and all of our respect. He attacks this film with the viciousness of a prizefighter, and he cautiously dances around Robert Wise’s The Set-Up (one of the best boxing films and film noir’s ever made) to craft a singular boxing film experience. De Niro finds the humanity in this very flawed protagonist to make him a bit more understandable, and in terms of savagery, he executes with acuteness. The film gives us Joe Pesci playing the nice guy for a change, instead of the bombastic wildcard he so commonly gets trapped by. Rocky’s got the heart, but Raging Bull is the pinnacle of the boxing picture. Its captivating premise and complex characters, coupled with Scorsese’s excellence, make it a champ of a sports film.
2: Goodfellas (1990)
Is there any film more easily rewatchable than Goodfellas?! If there is, we haven’t found it yet. Scorsese’s 90s masterpiece is a kinetic roller coaster ride that many herald as one of the greatest gangster films ever made and "arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career” (a sentiment we obviously slightly disagree with). Goodfellas is hard-hitting and stylish, with first-rate performances from Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco, and Joe Pesci. Scorsese glamorizes gangsters while also being fairly ant-romantic, allowing the audience to get swept up in the glamor and allure of mob life before He hammers the cost and consequence of the lifestyle down like an icepick. Brutal and groundbreaking, Goodfellas is definitely a high mark for Scorsese, and one we think is topped by only one other film…
But first! Here’s one that just missed the cut:
Mean Streets (1973)
Based on actual events Scorsese saw almost regularly while growing up in New York City's Little Italy, Mean Streets is a powerful and authentic tale of urban sin and guilt stained with Scorsese’s hallmark violence. Instantly praised by critics, the film would prove to be Scorsese’s big break, marking him as a vital cinematic voice with a knack for telling a compelling story in an unflinchingly raw and fully realized way. In addition to putting him on the map, Mean Streets was the first Scorsese film to feature actor Robert De Niro, and it would start a working relationship that would span a total of eight films — several of which are featured on this list. Championed by critics like Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, who called the film "a true original, and a triumph of personal filmmaking", Mean Streets put Scorsese forever in the public eye and laid the groundwork for him to build his expansive filmography off of.
And without further delay, our favorite Scorsese film is…
1: Taxi Driver (1976)
For our money, Taxi Driver is (and probably always will be) Scorsese finest achievement. It’s a viscerally gripping psychological thriller that gives the viewer a deep and unflinching look into the darkest recesses of the human soul. There are times you just want to look away — and there are some moments so painful that Scorsese literally moves the camera away, as if in sympathy — but Scorsese, Schrader, and De Niro make this pitch-black story engrossing, captivating, and electric every step of the way. With gorgeously seedy cinematography from Michael Chapman, an intoxicating score from Bernard Herrmann, an unforgettable performance from De Niro, and superb direction from Scorsese, Taxi Driver is a wholly remarkable film of rare power and unique force, which is why it’s our favorite Scorsese film of all time.
What do you think? What’s your favorite Scorsese film? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!